'Lee'rical Wordplay

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Apparently, there have been some technical difficulties with everything I have posted for the last several months. This means you are only able to follow up until somewhere in November. Not to worry, though! Luckily, I have a back up in place that will allow me to get these posts back up asap...it's called my memory. (Here's hoping it works!)

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

As promised, here is the shocking (not really) conclusion to last weeks post...the song from Woman in the Window, written for the title character herself. First, a little setup:

Alice has had a long night. She had met Richard and invited him to her apartment to see some paintings, where the two were interrupted by Frank, a man she had been seeing. After an altercation, Richard prevails by inadvertently killing the uninvited guest.

Realizing that they both could be held seriously accountable for this, Richard plans to dispose of the body and in an attempt to make him anonymous, he tasks Alice to get rid of all of the man's personal belongings.

Music by Cynthia Wong, Lyrics by Lee Cavellier, Book by Sara Wordsworth

Lights slowly rise on the outside deck of the Staten
Island Ferry.A clock shows the time,
4:10 AM.We hear the thump of the diesel
engine, and sense a thickness in the humid, pre-dawn summer air.ALICE carefully enters the otherwise deserted
deck, making sure the coast is clear.SHE’s clutching a small purse and wearing a long, light raincoat, dark
glasses and a shawl over her hair.

(We hear RICHARD’s VOICE, ominous
in tone.)

RICHARD
(V/O)

You’ll get on one of the ferries.Right away.Not during rush
hour.Drop everything overboard.Be very careful that you aren’t seen.

ALICE

(luxuriously, to herself:)

AND
I WASN’T, WAS I?

NO,
NO ONE COULD HAVE CAUGHT A GLIMPSE, THE SLIGHTEST GLIMPSE OF ME,

AS
I HURRIED ‘LONG MY WAY TO THE BOAT…

AND
NOW I’M FINALLY HERE

ALL
ALONE,..

NOT
A SOUL,

NOT
A PERSON IN-

(A nearby hawk screeches.)

ALICE

(jumping)

What the-?! Oh God...just a...

(Singing briskly, hyping herself
back to where she was..)

AND
NOW I’M FINALLY HERE

ALL
ALONE,..

NOT
A SOUL,

NOT
A PERSON IN SIGHT,

NOT
A SINGLE-

(Music is cut off again as a passing boat's foghorn yells.)

Holy Mother-of...!

(Music.Singing very briskly, hyping herself back to where she was...)

AND
NOW I’M FINALLY HERE…

ALL
ALONE...

NOT
A SOUL,

NOT
A PERSON IN SIGHT,

NOT
A SINGLE SET OF EYES-

(SHE catches a glimpse of the
Statue of Liberty. Spoken:)

And what are you looking at, Miss Liberty?It was an accident, after all!An accident!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Can you believe it? We're almost through blogging my experience from the first year of the BMI workshop!

Our next assignment was a fun one, and really tested many of us. We were paired off with writing partners, as usual, but then we were assigned a librettist to work with as well. The teams of three were then tasked with writing a scene/song. However, rather than each team choosing what they wished to write, we were given more specific instructions.

'The Woman in the Window' is an old film noir piece...very stylized and very dated. The moderator from the librettists workshop (a sister entity of the composer/lyricist one I am in) chose the film, broke it down into sections, and then designated them to various teams. Each team was to write the appropriate scene/song for the section they had been assigned. In this way, the entire film would become a musical!

The end results, overall, were quite enjoyable. People got very creative with their moments...many brought the piece to a fun place of 'camp' (a near necessity when working with such a dated, stylized film), and many found great moments of character and relationship, or at least humor.

My composer for this assignment was Cynthia Wong, a very talented musician who has since moved back to Beijing to accept a job in production. I feel fortunate to have had a chance to work with her prior to her departure. Our librettist was the amazingly talented (as both a writer AND performer), Sara Wordsworth. As fate would have it, we were the one group that was given a scene that, get this, is not actually in the film! That's right. The moderator wanted to give the female lead a moment alone, so we were tasked with writing a scene/song for her that takes place in our class, and our class alone.

Monday, November 5, 2012

After a lot of discussion, we decided that we really loved the moment we had chosen, and wanted to stick with it. (For a reminder, read here!) Once that was cleared up, the question came 'How do we make this better?' The feedback we had received was that something hadn't run quite true with the lyrics and music. The Commie references were appreciated, but felt a bit much, perhaps unearned...and the tune wasn't quite dark enough to really capture the attitude and mindset of our character.

One of the moderators had said to me 'That's an interesting notion...what is a friend to Roy Cohn?' Well, when Ross and I contemplated that, I came up with several variations of hook phrases tied into the idea.

We ended up liking the simplicity and directness of the word 'Friends', followed by various descriptions of what Roy expects of the people he helps out. There's a wonderful irony to it, as his expectations are incredibly high, and these people are of course made to feel more like subordinates than actual companions. Once we had come to the conclusion of the hook, Ross threw some ideas my way about sound. We ended up going with a very minor, dark jazzy feel for the tune. This helped give us an indication of his ulterior motives, as he's 'offering to help' Joe in his career.

All-in-all, this round turned out far more successful. The scene and song meld well together, and do not lead to redundancies. The tune is melodic, yet dark and a bit eccentric...and we even worked in a musical interlude that included the whole 'commie' bit from the first draft!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Our assignment? To write a comedy song for the dark dramedy turned HBO miniseries, Angels in America. We could use any character we wanted, any moment we wanted and any style we wanted, as long as it made sense with the overall 'feel' of the piece.

My collaborator on this was the amazingly talented Ross Patterson. We decided to write a song for a moment where Roy Cohn and Martin Heller are trying to convince the young (closeted) Joe that he should take a job in Washington D.C. Roy had offered to help Joe with the position a while ago, but Joe is reluctant because his wife doesn't want to move.

Below is our first attempt at the scene/song...Enjoy!

Comrades!

Music by Ross Patterson, Lyrics by Lee Cavellier

The scene opens on restaurant.Roy and Martin are sitting close to one
another, across the table from Joe.Martin has clearly been talking at length.

MARTIN

(Convincing.)

It’s a revolution in Washington, Joe!

ROY

Aw, shut the fuck up, Martin.

(to Joe.)

You see that?

(Music.VERSE, RECIT:)

NOW
WATCH ME AND TRY TO MAKE SENSE, IF YOU CAN

AS
THIS JEW SAYS ‘FUCK YOU’ TO THE MAN’S RIGHT HAND MAN.

AM
I BALLSY, OR STUPID?OR PART OF SOME
CLAN?

OH,
NO.THAT AIN’T IT KID…

IT’S
JUST THAT THERE’S SOMETHING BETWEEN US, YA SEE?

HE
TAKES NO OFFENSE ‘CUZ HE’S LOYAL TO ME.

HEY
MARTIN...

MARTIN

YES,
ROY?

ROY

RUB
MY BACK AND AGREE…

(Martin gives Roy a look.Roy speaks cooly.)

No, no really, a sore spot.I
get them all the time now, these…Rub it for me, darling.Would you do that?

(Martin rubs Roy’s back.SUNG:)

I
AIN’T FULL OF SHIT, KID!

(CHORUS.)

HOW’D
ST. PETERSBURG, IN JUST ONE DAY, TURN INTO LENINGRAD?

THOSE
‘BULL-SHIT-VIKS’ WERE MAD,

BUT
KNEW JUST WHAT THEY HAD…

THEY
HAD COMRADES!

THEY
HAD FRIENDS!

AND
WHO COULDN’T SEE THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THESE LITTLE LARKS?

THE
AIR WAS FILLED WITH SPARKS,

WHEN
ENGELS FIRST MET MARX.

THEY
WERE COMRADES!

Right Martin?

THEY
WERE FRIENDS!

A
FRIEND CALLS YOU OUT WHEN YOU’RE CRASS.

AND
IN THE DARK IN CENTRAL PARK,

A
FRIEND WILL ALWAYS WATCH YOUR ASS

A
FRIEND’S BY YOUR SIDE, THIN AND THICK.

A
FAITHFUL JACK WILL RUB YOUR BACK

AND
THEN MASSAGE YOUR GREAT BIG EGO!

SO,
JOE, LET ME DO THIS FAVOR, YOU CAN’T SAY ‘NO WAY’ TO ME,

JUST
TELL ME THAT YOU’LL BE

MY
‘ROYBOY’ IN D.C.!

BE
MY COMRADE…

BE
MY ALLY…

BE
MY FRIEND!

(A false finish, as Roy and Martin
both stare at Joe, awaiting a response.The music keeps starting and stopping in an anticipatory riff.Joe looks stunned.After a couple of riffs, the normal
underscore starts up.)

MARTIN

(Convincing.)

This man, Joe, is a Saint of the Right.

JOE

I know, Mr. Heller, I…

ROY

You see what I mean, Martin?He’s special, right?

(BRIDGE.)

HE’S
GOT GRAVITY, DECENCY, SMARTS.

MARTIN

Don’t embarrass him, Roy!

ROY

(to Martin.)

HE’S
A WHOLE LOT GREATER THAN THE SUM OF YOUR
PARTS!

WELL,
IF WASHINGTON’S SICK, HE’S THE CURE…

THE
KID PISSES RAINBOWS, HIS HEART’S SO DAMN PURE!

MARTIN

We’re on the move, Joe.On the
move.

JOE

Mr. Heller, I…

MARTIN

We can’t wait any longer for an answer.

(Roy and Martin both stare
awkwardly at Joe.The music keeps
starting and stopping in an anticipatory riff.The riff continues under the following awkward exchange.)

JOE

Oh, Um, I…

ROY

Joe’s a married man, Martin.

MARTIN

Aha.

ROY

With a wife.She doesn’t care to
go to D.C., and so Joe cannot go.And
keeps us dangling.We’ve seen that kind
of thing before, haven’t we?These men
and their wives.

MARTIN

Oh yes. Beware.

JOE

I really can’t discuss this under…

MARTIN

Then don’t discuss.Say yes,
Joe.

ROY

SO
YOU’VE GOT A WIFE WHO’S GOT A LIFE SHE DOESN’T WISH TO QUELL?

SIMPLY
LOOK HER IN THE EYE AND TELL ‘ER

THAT
SHE CAN GO STRAIGHT TO HELL…ER!

MARTIN

…and I’ll set her straight!

ROY

Come on, Joe…

BE
MY COMRADE!

JOE

It’s just that…

MARTIN

(Backing up Roy, encouragingly.)

SAY
YES, SAY YES, SAY YES!

ROY

BE
MY CONFIDANTE!

MARTIN

(Backing up Roy.)

YES,
I WILL! YES, I WILL!

ROY

(growing frantic.)

BE
MY COMRADE!BE MY CRONY!

BE
MY FAN! BE MY STUD!

BE
MY BOOSTER!BE MY INTIMATE,

A
WINGMAN TO THIS DUD!

BE
MY BOOTS WHEN IT’S MUDDY,

BE
MY BROTHER, BE MY BUDDY!

JOE

Buddy?

ROY

Buddy!

MARTIN

Say yes, Joe!

ROY

Now. Now.I’ll hold my breath
till you do, I’m turning blue waiting…

ROY

NOW,
NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW…!

Now, goddammit!

MARTIN

Roy, calm down, it’s not…

ROY

Aw, fuck it.

(Chord.He takes a letter from his jacket pocket,
hands it to Joe.)

Read.Came today.

(END OF SONG.)

And now, some extra fun!!

Since a blog is nothing without it's readers, I am going to invite YOU to be part of the process!

Let's face it, turn of the 20th century Russian revolution references are hilarious...

Leave a comment below, with the clever 'comrade' reference you'd have included in the piece!

About Me

I am a theatrical lyricist/composer currently working on a few projects. I predominantly write comedy, but am currently branching out stylistically. This site has been started as part of an effort to be accountable not only to myself, but also to whoever else may be reading/listening. Oh, and because writing should be fun... Enjoy!